I Found Jesus

I Saw Jesus

I was on my way to have coffee with my friend Ratna from Get Clued In today when I saw Jesus.

He was driving an old Chevy truck and wore mirrored sunglasses.

According to news reports and Saturday Night Live, Jesus has been spending the last few weeks in Denver.  

I guess he's going to be here for his birthday too.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Come What May

Over the weekend iKeith lost his wedding ring.

He's really upset and we've looked everywhere for it.  We even looked at Robert's house because we spent some time there on Saturday.

We can't find it anywhere.  

I told Keith not to worry, I'm sure it will turn up.  For some reason, I strongly felt like it wasn't really lost.

Last night, as I was falling asleep.....I prayed.  I prayed for a gal name Lo, that I'd just seen on the news who accidentally walked into the propeller of an airplane in Plano Texas. As I always do....I ended by thanking God for all of the blessings in my life.

This morning when I woke up, reached for my iPhone and hit the home button to check the time like I do every morning.  It was 5:43am.

I laid my head back down and a few moments later, I started to hear music.

I thought iKeith's alarm must be going off for some crazy reason and I recognized the song.  Come What May....which is OUR song and the inscription on the inside of Keith's ring.

Then I realized that it was coming from MY phone.

I picked it up and noticed it said the Taylor Swift playlist was playing.  But Come What May was the song playing and it is NOT in that playlist.

I also haven't listened to music on my phone in weeks.

I got goosebumps up my spine!  Was Jesus sending me a sign? 

There is really NO OTHER explanation for it.

Gifts of Time and Other Things

I had a great post for you today with a little video.  But the vlogging gods are against me today or all of the folks in San Francisco at the WWDC are sucking the internet juice and making it impossible for me to upload a video.

Maybe tomorrow.

I've been wanting to write this post for a week now so I guess today is as good as day as any.  I've been on a Self-Help Book kick.  I'm always working hard to better myself and seek a better understanding of why I feel the way I do.

If you have any issues with shame or not feeling like you're good enough....you have to read Dr. Brene Brown's books.  The most recent book that I read from her was The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are. It made me realize that I am enough just the way I am and that if people don't like who I am...that isn't my problem. I'm not everyone's cup of tea and that is okay!  I also learned that my past doesn't define me and that I can't let other people shame me into doing what they want.  My goal is to live a wholehearted and authentic life.

Because of this book...I'm reading more, creating more, reflecting more and loving the life that I've created for myself.

The next two books I had on hold at the library and they became available at the same time. They were perfect to read together and resulted in the creation of a time sheet that I fill out daily keeping track of what I need to do....and how I spend my time.



168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think helped me realize that I have much more time than I think I do.  Once I started writing down what I was doing each day and where I was spending my time....I was much more conscience of how much time I was wasting. I can easily lose several hours in front of the computer.  I decided what things are most important to me.  Creating with my kids, reading, sitting on the patio with a glass of wine and my husband.

I'm going to purchase a copy of Organized Simplicity because she has the best organizing tips I've ever seen! Her tag line on her book is...the clutter-free approach to Intentional Living. I love that!
She calls her sheet, her daily docket and I borrowed her MIT idea for my sheet. MIT stands for Most Important Tasks. I only make three a day so that I know that I can get them done and I love marking things off from a list!

The book that has made a huge difference in my life.  The final piece of the puzzle.  I truly believe that God put these books into my hands in the order that he did because he wanted to me to see where my time was going....and how there were things being neglected.  I was being neglected and I was neglecting him.  One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are.  Time is racing away from me and how I spend my 168 hours each week is important.  I need to pay attention to the moments and thank God for them. The many gifts that are right in front of me each day....each week.

It's already been my goal to give my kids' the best childhood that I can.  To give them experiences and teach them lessons but there are so many little things that I wasn't noticing.  Things that you can only notice if you are still....and paying attention.  Living in the moment!


Many people want more time in their day....they don't have enough hours to get everything done. Are the items on your to-do list really that important? Here's what I want you to know.  You have all the time you need.....the trick is to do less, pay attention more and count your gifts.  And living in a 990 square foot apartment with less stuff is also very helpful!



"I'm sharing my awesome with Momma Made It Look Easy and you can too!

In case you missed it.....

Our 2011 Summer of Fun List
My Summer Reading List

Are You There God...It's Me, Connie

I wrote the beginning of this post last week after the Jesus incident and it probably would have sat in draft if it wasn't for the post my friend Vivienne wrote yesterday. I've been praying about a church for the kids and I to attend and this just made my search all the more important. If you've been a reader of my blog recently, you know that I believe in miracles. God is good!



We were sitting in the drive thru at McDonald's after an eventful trip to story time at the library* when Alex told me that Daddy said I can't drink wine anymore. (for the record, he denies telling them this.)

I informed him that I can drink as much wine as I can want and that I can do this because Jesus loves me.  He balked at this and I told him that Jesus turned water into wine and therefore, Jesus is a big fan.  (I even tried to convince the Mormon's of this once.)

Jesus has been a big topic lately since I threw that out there during the Easter Egg Hunt and then made them watch a Veggie Tales Movie about Easter.  It occurred to me that they don't know about Jesus....because we don't go to church.

On the way home....questions about Jesus, Heaven and Heck all came up.  I tried to explain it as best I could but now the kids are afraid of dying and definitely don't want to go to Heck because there isn't a McDonald's there.

That was NOT a lie.  I'm sure that Satan hasn't built one. 

I think it's time for us to find a church...if nothing else, for the hour of free babysitting.

******************

Story time.  The kids have a bad habit of shouting stuff out to the librarian while she's reading a book to them.  This week I encouraged them to wait until she was finished to add comments.  I also encouraged them to raise their hands.

Mallory hung back instead of being right in front of the teacher like she normal is.  I don't think she knew what to do with this information.

After the counting book about hammers, Alex informed the librarian that his Daddy has a lot of hammers and that his name is Keith.  She was very impressed.

Next there was a song about pancakes, fruit, waffles and whipped cream!  Alex excitedly told her that his Daddy lets him have as much whipped cream in his coffee as he wants!  She looked alarmed.

While all of this was going on....Mallory was mad because Alex kept getting in front of her in the back row and she couldn't see the book.  She would look at me and YELL that she was mad.  All of the mother's were laughing at with me.

She was also having issues because there was a BABY in the library.  She doesn't like babies because they have big butts and they cry a lot.

Baby...I don't see no stinkin Baby!

**Since I wrote this....Mallory has changed her mind about babies because she saw someone on TV pushing one on a swing and she would now like a baby to push on a swing.  She also announced to everyone at the park yesterday that I'm going to poop out a baby for her to push on a swing.**

P.S. I have some new readers from Brigham Young University!  Welcome!

A Guardian Angel named Paul

I talked a couple weeks ago about iKeith being lucky. In addition to that, he also believes that he has a guardian angel. And his name is Paul.

When Keith was 5 years old he was camping with this parents, his 3 year old sister and his baby brother. Paul was just 18 months old and very tall for his age. He loved to run and he loved his big brother.

The family was camping in the mountains above Denver, because my father in law was scouting hunting locations. A mistake was made and gasoline was used in a kerosene heater, which caught fire....burning the tent and his sister and brother while Keith and his mother watched in horror.

A man in a neighboring campsite ran to help them. He saved Keith's sister, the sleeping bag burned to her little body. But Paul didn't make it.

Ever since then...Keith has felt like he's been saved in certain situations because someone was watching out for him. He's convinced that it's Paul.

A day doesn't go by that I don't pray that my family and most importantly, my children are protected. Having this tragedy in our family makes me constantly aware of what could go wrong. I'm always thinking ahead to what could happened and how I can prevent accidents. It's always in the forefront of my mind.

I truly believe that God has protected the kids many times. There is the obvious time that he kept them from finding a LITHIUM pill that Robert accidentally lost in our playroom in Utah, not to mention the Hobo Spider invasion. Miracles I tell you!

Saturday was a great day!  I had a lunch out with a bunch of wonderful bloggers at a great restaurant.  I came home and had two peaceful hours alone before my family came home from the mall.  We decided to go out for sushi and were headed out the door when Alex fell down the stairs outside of our apartment.

He fell from the very top step just as I was shutting the door behind me.  I raced to the stairs and before I could even get to the first step......he was at the bottom.  I can tell you right now that the sight of your child tumbling down a flight of wooden stairs doesn't leave you.  You see it happening again and again every time you close your eyes.

When I reached him, he was crying and clung to me.  We checked him from head to toe.  His ear was red and his glasses were misshapen but he.....he was fine.  We asked him if he wanted to go back inside and he wiped his tears and said no.  He wanted to go out to eat.

We monitored him all night.  Asking him a million times if he hurt anywhere and if he was okay.  When we put him to bed...I sat on the end of his bed for an hour just to make sure he was fine.  I would have stayed there all night but he woke up and he told me to go to my bed.  Mom's can be so pesky.....

He woke up this morning and was the happy smiling boy that he always is.  I asked him if he hurt....if he was sore anywhere.  I checked his body from the top of his head to his giant size 13 feet and he doesn't have a single bruise or scratch.

God did it again.  Someone, maybe Paul was with my baby as he tumbled down those stairs and kept him from being hurt.

Miracles baby!

Edited: Oprah's messing with me.  She sent me this quote in an email this morning. 

"Balance lives in the present. The surest way to lose your footing is to focus on what dreadful things might happen."
—  Oprah

What A Friend We Have In Pez Jesus

A couple weeks ago...Bobbi and I were grocery shopping at Wal-Mart when we found the most amazing thing. Pez Jesus. Okay...it wasn't really but it looked just like him and I had to buy it especially since there was only one. You got it, there is only ONE JESUS.

We took it home and showed it to the kids and they were so excited....about the candy inside Pez Jesus. Once the candy ran out....Jesus was discarded like an old toy. I collected Jesus from his forgotten spot on the floor and put him in the fruit basket.

Yesterday, Mallory went searching for a snack and she spotted Jesus with the apples. She was so excited and ran to me exclaiming that she had found Jesus and he loved apples!

Soon...a fight broke out. The children were fighting over Jesus. And then Jesus was found again, this time in the couch cushions.

Mallory carried Jesus around all day and then informed me that he wanted to sleep with her during nap time.

And then he went to dinner with us. Mallory, who usually isn't very friendly with strangers asked our waitress if she knows Jesus. Imagine....the shocked look on her face when Mallory produced a Pez Jesus for her to see.

As she was headed to bed last night....Mallory told me that she loves Jesus. Me too, honey. Me too.